The Ultimate Betrayal
by missdallywinston
Summary: Now that Ezra's A, how is that going to play out? What will the girls think? What will Aria do when and if she finds out? The girl's world is about to break apart more than ever and no one other than Mr. Fitz is holding the sledge hammer. Follow up to 4x12 and the rest of Season 4B. Please read and review!
1. Now You See Me, Now You Don't

Prologue

Intro to Grave New World

"We're crashing a party," he heard Aria's soft, yet trying to sound tough voice say to the other girls. He watched them from the alley he was peeking out of while they disappeared into the costume shop. It was a wonder they hadn't seen him. He had to admit, it wasn't the best sleuthing he'd ever done. He got a little lost after hearing Carla Grunwald's words. "He's here" echoed through his mind like wolfs howling in the woods. He glanced over his shoulder to see the girls talking to a sales woman before crossing the street, shaking his covered head.

It happened. Those girls found the lair. A voice in the back of his head kept saying "You know it would happen sooner or later." He and his partner in crime had tried to keep them out as best as they could. But of course, the biggest trouble maker he had ever met in his life struck again. Alison DiLaurentis. He just knew she had lead them there. He wasn't quite sure where she was now, but he had a pretty good idea of where she'd be later that night.

He stomped up the stairs, fuming more and more with each step. He could practically smell the Dior perfume Alison left behind in the stairwell; a teensy bit of him missed that smell. He dismissed all those thoughts immediately when he saw the light pouring out into the hallway from a wide open door.

He stuffed his hands deep in his pockets and looked at just about everything but the walls with Ali's pictures on them. He looked at the timelines that were slightly messed up. He looked at the tampered with computer. He looked over his shoulder to make sure one of those liars didn't come flouncing through the doorway. He did a full 360 before slamming the open closet of suits. After he heard the crashing noise, it really hit him.

_They_ were in there._ They_ saw everything. Alison _helped_ them. His partner was gone. He hadn't heard a thing about one young girl in particular in a few days, which worried him. All the things they could've taken fluttered through his mind. Alison's diaries, notes with his handwriting, bank records. Hanna's boyfriend could have it traced in a matter of hours.

He could practically see the scene playing out. Caleb would tell them, Aria would already be crying whilst trying defend him as hard as she could (poor girl never _could _get over him), Emily would have that shell shocked expression, Spencer would be holding Aria's now full on bawling body, and he could hear Hanna's sweet voice clear as a bell.

"It's him. He's board shorts. Ezra is A."

He rubbed his temple with an index finger before having the common sense to close and double lock the door. Ali's going to tell them everything like Garrett had tried to a little over a year ago. He briefly remembered the fallen-from-grace cop's bloody body being tossed in with Aria's drugged one. He remembered another crooked cop, Wilden, screaming at a flustered Melissa Hastings. God, he was glad CeCe had taken care of him.

His mind rushed back to Alison. Would she really tell them everything? Would she throw me under the bus like that? It's not like she's completely innocent! She had lied to me, saying she was eighteen. He doubted it as he thought about it more. Alison was never one to spill every little detail about every huge secret. You had to earn it. But, he still had to hurry. He glanced down at his watch, the watch Aria had gotten him for his birthday. It was eight forty-three. The Ravenswood Celebration started in less than twenty minutes. He knew she would be there. They all would.

But he had to get to her before those precious little liars could spot the wave of her red coat. He had to get to her _now_. He couldn't wait for CeCe. After all, it was more her fault then his that their Emily plan fell through. He rushed to get his World War One costume on. He knew it was a risk wearing it, the liars had seen the pictures in the lair for sure, but the he had no time to get another one. He walked out the door and locked it safe and secure. CeCe had a key if she ended up coming back at all. This night was going to be a big night. He could feel it in his bones.

The search party had just begun.


	2. Grave New World, Part One

Chapter 1

Grave New World

The girls got dressed in their newly bought Edwardian wear in the eerie costume shop's dressing rooms. The girls stepped out of the store and realized they had absolutely no plan.

"Wait, do we think Board Shorts is the killer?" Emily paused, "er, attempted killer? CeCe did say that Alison said the Beach Hottie would kill her if he found out…"

"Oh, we're trusting her now?" Aria challenged, motioning to her slightly bruised forearm before continuing, "Who do you even think Board Shorts is?"

Hanna had to bite her tongue. She knew if she said what was really on her mind, Aria would kick her ass worse than she did to CeCe a mere hour before. As much as she was staying quiet, a voice in her head chanted "Ezra." The second she opened the closet full of suits, she felt it. She read Alison's letter to Beach Hottie and again, she felt it. That's why she was so relieved when she grabbed Ali's diary. She didn't say anything, though, part of her knowing it wouldn't be Mr. Fitz. It couldn't be.

Ezra was Aria's shoulder to cry on, even after they broke up around the time of the lodge fire. Hell, he had been all their shoulders to cry on in a way. He helped Spencer when she got rejected by UPenn, he helped Emily out a lot with tutoring when she didn't pass junior year and guided her through what colleges she should apply to, and he had let Hanna slide with at least six missing assignments. When she checked her grades, each missing thing had anywhere from a B to an A. After that, she flinched at her own thought._ A_.

Spencer eyed her before saying, "I still think it's Wren. He's shady. Always been, really, she paused, "and he wears suits."

They all looked at Hanna, waiting for her to put in some input. She hoped like hell that Spencer or Emily or definitely Aria weren't jumping to conclusions like she was. _Suits_. Ezra wore suits lots of times. She hoped nobody put that together. And if they did, she hoped they wouldn't throw out that idea. Alison was alive, CeCe was probably already plotting revenge on them, Caleb was coming to the creepy party, and Mona was God knows where. She couldn't deal with Aria being pissed at them for suggesting something. She remembered when they suspected Byron, when they suspected Paige, when they suspected Melissa. It was just A's plan to frame someone. It was never actually them. It just caused a lot of tension when they suspected someone another was close to. Hannah didn't need Aria mad right now.

"Why are we even discussing this! We're always wrong!"

"We weren't wrong about CeCe being Red Coat!" Emily pointed out.

"We're running out of time," Spencer told them. "A cannot get to Ali before us!"

"Ok, if we see a Redcoat, just go after them. Don't wait for the rest of us. If it's CeCe, we need to get information out of her. If it's Alison, we've got to do the same and keep her safe from A," Aria ordered.

The girls were about to head to the cemetery when Emily's quiet, quivering voice piped up. "I don't know if I'm ready to see Alison."

"We have to get to Alison before A does," Spencer stated, repeating some of what the girls had already said.

"Emily, we already have," Aria said sounding as gentle as possible despite knowing that they had to get the graveyard now and not worry over Emily's worries.

Where were they? Where was Ali? He saw clusters of people gathering under tents and gawking at others costumes. He had seen a few young men in similar costumes without the mask part. He, if he was caught, could say they had the same costumes for some made up reason. Those girls would believe it without even thinking twice. He knew more than anyone how gullible Aria was. The rest probably were, too.

And besides, what had they to suspect? He never was mean to them, except when he barked at Emily about her recommendation letter a few days ago. He still treated Aria like a princess even when she was practically shoving Jake in his face at the Brew, twice, and the hoe down. He remembered what he said to her two weeks ago.

_"You know there isn't anything I wouldn't do for you?"_

In a way, it was true. He beat the shit out of that punk's car and once Mike was the one to get in trouble, he swooped and was a second away from blackmailing the principal, his boss, like Mona had about a year ago.

He did _love_ Aria, despite everything, and all those feelings were as strong as Popeye the Sailor Man. He wouldn't tell anyone -not even his closest friends- that he cried when he got home after she told him to take the job at Rosewood. He cried again after she walked away from him in the stair well the next day. Stairwells usually meant hookups for them, but not that time. Nor the time she yelled at him for _caring_ about her. God forbid, he snickered. There was part of him that told him he deserved better. Aria told her friends about them even after they swore to secrecy. She cheated on him more than she probably admitted (he caught on to her and Wesley pretty fast after CeCe spilled.) He got her an expensive camera then she just dragged him to Jenna Marshall's party then left him alone with the ex-blind girl. Yeah, great girl.

But, she was a great girl. She trusted him. He was willing to bet that she trusted him more than Caleb, or Paige, or maybe even her clique. He knew he'd win a million if he had bet that she trusted him way more than she ever trusted Alison. Alison wasn't one to be trusted. Ezra had no clue as to why he ever did.

As he lingered near the woods framing the headstones, he thought about _that_ summer. It had been a few years after Maggie, and a few months after Jackie. A couple weeks before the blonde temptress, he met the sultry green-eyed girl in Cape May, before Alison blinded her. It was merely a fling, nonetheless. Just a few make out sessions to help him get over Jackie. Still, he was shocked when he read Jenna's name on the class roster. At school, she knew it was him. She knew when and possibly why he started playing the A game. She even taunted him with almost Alison expertise when they met at the woods before the mask ball. She tried talking him into ending it all because he was more in charge than Mona and she even offered up little Aria as the reward. He "relented." Ezra figured she forgot how to read people's eyes when they lied, because he certainly got away with it.

All though, he did keep his word and enjoyed carefree life while Mona was locked up. That all changed when CeCe showed up back in town. CeCe spilled all kinds of information on Alison that he never found out. She told him about how she knew about A. She told him about how she was almost positive that Alison was alive.

Bingo. The two soon began to be partners. They even got Mona out of Radley from time to time to help. The most she helped was when "Ali's" grave was dug up. He remembered the three meeting up after and putting the body in a safe place. He remembered the chill that crawled up his spine when he unzipped the body bag. He remembered how he felt when they figured out it was, in fact, not Alison. Thank God they had a friend who could do tests like that.

He heard the girls at a nearby gate and decided to pick a better hiding spot. He had already set up where his plan would take place and had it all mapped out in his mind. Time to get started. Before walking away though, he turned and watched them briefly. They were stuck at the gate and couldn't get in. He laughed and almost considered just opening it for them, but what's the fun in that?

"What kind of town throws a party in a graveyard?" Aria asked no one in particular while Spencer jiggled the lock more.

"Do you think CeCe will show?" Emily asked, "We could look for her too."

Spencer got it opened and they all stood together watching the scene before them. Spencer sighed, "Really, right now, we're looking for anyone. People who could know Alison, Alison herself, CeCe, Gas Mask…"

Right when Spencer lost her train of thought, they all saw it. A flash of red ran into bushes. They all were taken aback, then ran after her; whichever "her" it was, they needed to get to them. They all started running as fast as their dresses would allow them, which wasn't that fast. When they chased after her, they could all keep the unknown girl in sights, but when they rounded a bush, she disappeared like a ghost. Maybe that's all that Alison was. A taunting, teasing ghost. They all stood still and kept absolutely quiet. None of them heard a clack of heels, a rustle of leaves, a sigh…nothing.

"There's something seriously weird going on in this town," Aria announced after a few seconds passed.

She held her breath to keep from making noise and she slid through the forest with expertise. She had gotten great at hiding and sleuthing over the last few months. She paused for a while before trying to remember where he'd be. She suddenly remembered. She headed to the cellar of the hosting mansion before trying to locate where those Nancy Drew wanna-bees were. She figured it was safe and walked a little closer to the cemetery than the heart of the woods. Even though he was a creep and he had it coming for years, woods reminded her about why she did it, why she was hiding, and why all the most recent events were happening. But, in a way, she didn't feel remorse.

She sighed, pulling her coat tighter around her body and re-adjusting the plastic, mask on her face that she'd somehow gotten used to in the last months. She needed to get to Ezra _now_ for their devious plan to go smoothly tonight.

CeCe sighed again thinking, "_Let's get this party started" _before stepping out of the woods completely.

A/N: Bet you thought it was Ali for a second, huh? For this story, I'll use some of my theories and some facts the cast and crew have given up regarding 4B episodes. For example, they told us Maggie would be in episode 17, so when i get to that episode chapter, I'll try to put her in how i suspect the writers will put her in.

As for Ezra's involvement, Mona's B-Team involvement, and Ali's fake death, I'll be going on my own theories. Don't agree with them or like them at all? Make up your own story!

I'm also trying to use scenes and quotes in the Halloween epsiode promos to put in to the Grave New World chapters. I'm sure you recognize some of the girls' lines from trailers in this chapter.

Also, a million thank yous to each and everyone of you! I've been writing fanfiction for a while now and never have i gotten such a positive response to a story i wrote! i had three reviews, ten favorites/follows, and over 100 viewers in less than eighteen hours! i appreciate it immensely! please read and review!

ps, if you have any 4B spoilers, predictions, hopes etc dont be scared to send me a message! i might include it in my story!


	3. Grave New World, Part Two

Chapter 2

Grave New World, Part Two

"Do you think that was Ali?" Aria asked the question that was surely on the others' minds.

"I have no idea…" Hanna said, shaking her head. "We should split up. It'll be easier to get to each Red Coat."

The girls nodded and partnered with whoever was standing nearest to them. Emily stood closer to Aria while Spencer and Hanna teamed up. Emily decided her and Aria should be the ones to try to get to CeCe after Aria claimed to want to finish what she started in the warehouse. Spencer was more than happy to be the one to go after Alison. Spencer's brain was about to burst with questions she wanted to ask her, and she was going to get answers from Alison no matter what. With Alison alive, they could shut this whole game down. Ali was the key to every goddamn thing.

The girls were about to part ways, but heard something rustling in nearby leaves. They all glanced at each other, but before they could go charging into where the noise came from, a rabbit popped out next to the bush.

"Okay, are you freaking kidding me?" Hanna asked incredulously.

Spencer reassured her, "It's ok. It's just a rabbit." Spencer, if she wasn't so busy with other things, would have smiled. Her mind flashed back to that mid-September day. The girls had just reunited and they were all still planning where to place Alison's memorial. She remembered how Hanna heard something and Spencer insisted it was a rabbit. It was such an innocent time. They hadn't been framed for anything yet, A wasn't constantly throwing cars at people, and this whole charade wasn't as screwed up or as dangerous as it was now. It was, so far, only threatening texts. All that had changed pretty fast. Hanna pulled her out of her thoughts and tugged her arm towards the mansion that was semi-hosting the party. Emily and Aria went towards the tent where all the party-goers were.

Ezra was sitting, plotting, at the piano in the cellar. It was dusty and smelled awful down there, but it was a perfect place to trap those girls, one steal-happy girl in particular. He heard clicks descending into the stairwell closer and closer. He felt nervous, but then didn't know why. He was the one the liars were afraid, not vice-versa. He saw a Red Coat and instantly got excited. A tiny part of him said, "Here's Ali," but he knew it was CeCe, and it sure enough was.

"I know, I screwed up. Let's not even start in on that. They're here. And they're more than ready to get Alison before we can," CeCe partly begged, while pulling her mask off.

Ezra removed the head gear from his costume so he could talk to CeCe clearly. He ignored the first part of what she said and, barely under a shout, said, "What the hell happened back there, CeCe! That wasn't part of the plan!"

"Your little girlfriend almost killed me! That's what happened."

Ezra raised his eyebrows, confused and surprised. "How did she…?"

"Well, you know how she's with that karate instructor?" CeCe asked, with a smirk on her sinister face. She knew very well that he did, but decided to kick Ezra where it hurt. "Apparently he taught her some moves. And then she used those moves on me! You should've seen it. You would've thought it was cute," she added while she roll her eyes.

"But, what about Emily?" Ezra asked, not even flinching at her comments about Aria. He had gotten used to it in the last months. CeCe was always bringing up Aria to taunt him and saying hateful, sarcastic comments. CeCe hated her the more than the rest of the liars, and Ezra had a pretty good idea why…

"Ali saved her. She stopped the machine. She ran out and Spencer ran after her. I ran upstairs and then that eyebrow bitch followed me. I fell off the balcony and when they were comforting Aria, I got up." CeCe chuckled and looked at the ground, "Those she-devils didn't even hear me."

"Stop calling her that. You graduated high school, CeCe, so stop acting like a high school girl, for Christ's sake," he ordered.

"Oh, but I thought you like high school girls. Am I wrong? Change your type?" CeCe teased with a devious smile. "By the way, I'm totally fine," she said sarcastically, referring to her fall, full on knowing Ezra didn't care enough about it. She liked being partners in crime with him. They were never anything more, not since that summer…

One of the down sides with working with Ezra was his affection for Aria. CeCe had bigger plans for her, saying it was too suspicious that she always got off without a scratch. CeCe planned for him to drive the car into her house instead of Emily's, but Ezra refused. Hell, the most CeCe got to torture Aria was putting bees into her mom's car. CeCe would've much rather put them in Aria's. But of course, Romeo couldn't let anything ever happen to dear, dear Juliet.

"They got her diary," Ezra spoke up after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence.

"What?!" CeCe yelled, not thinking about who could hear her.

"When Spencer followed Ali, Alison led her to the lair. I checked the cameras. Hanna took it. I don't think she told the others though. She slipped it into her bag."

"Ezra! That's gonna mess this all up! Alison wrote about you!"

"No, no she didn't. She wrote Beach Hottie. I think we're ok."

"She wrote about how Beach Hottie took English courses at Hollis! There's no one we can pin this on! Don't you get that?"

"Wren?" Ezra asked innocently.

"Wren didn't go to Hollis. He didn't even live in Rosewood!"

"Well, right now Hanna's the one we've got to worry about. She got the diary. She looked at my suits… and she's getting Caleb to come here and hack into the computer."

"Well, did you lock the door?" CeCe questioned Ezra, talking to him like he was four.

"Yeah. How did Ali even get in? Did she have a key?" Ezra wondered, not directly asking CeCe.

"I guess or she picked it… Look, they're not going to get to Alison. I bet we aren't either. That bitch is good. We should just focus on Hanna. I think she's with Spencer. They're probably going to come to this mansion, so let's go. I'll focus on the other two…"

"No. Go to the lair. Completely shut down the computer so Caleb won't get inside. Take out the suits. Just take everything that could give either of us away. They'll go back. I promise." He paused and saw CeCe preparing to argue. "I can handle stuff here. Go. You have keys to my apartment. You can stay there tonight if you don't want to go to the crawl space. They're onto that, you know?"

"What am I supposed to do after I clear out the lair? Stuff it all under your bed then go to sleep? No. Hell no!"

"Try to find Mona then or something. Just get out of here. Call me the second you get out of the lair, understand? I've got a new plan…"

A/N: I know, not the best chapter. But the next chapter is going to be great! Trust me! it'll have a lot of action and i'ts going to be longer than the others BUT... there will be a little bit of a wait! Tomorrow is my birthday so i'm gonna relax and party lol! and grades are due wednesday and i have missing work at school so ive got to get that done. Part Three of Grave New World should be posted somewhere between tuesday and thursday next week! :D

Again, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the reviews, follows, favorites, and views! I have nine followers, so you should spread the word about this fanfic and get me twenty for my birthday! It would add to my thrill of writing this! It would mean so much more to me than it already has and that would be amazing.

Have a good weekend everyone!


	4. Grave New World, Part Three

Chapter 3

Grave New World, Part Three

CeCe turned around and faced the room before leaving. She left the timelines untouched just because Ezra and her worked way too hard on them. Although she did tweak them a bit; she printed out a few pictures of Ezra out and slapped two of them on the timelines and two others on a wall. It was too suspicious for there not to be any pictures of him.

She took the other Alison diary. There were two and Hanna got the other. She took bank statements and mentally cursed Ezra for leaving them out in the open, but was slightly happy. She knew the girls had seen the statements and she knew one of them had a few payments made out to her. That proved that she actually _wasn't_ the one in charge. Now, with those liars knowing that, she could turn the focus off of her and onto Boardshorts if worse came to worse.

She sighed before leaving and locking the door. At least once a week, reality hit her. She would remember everything she had done. She would remember why. Every once in a while, she honestly felt guilty- for some of it, at least. She felt bad for almost killing Jason in that elevator "accident" because one time, way back when, she did really truly like him. But what could she do? She knew she was selfish and she'd save her ass to no end. The twisted part of her – the part that taught Ali – was proud of that.

She truly liked Alison once, too. She was happy that there was someone in the world who looked up to her and trusted her. She was a good friend to have, and vice versa. She knew that all the monsters Alison made was the result of the monster CeCe started, but again, a tiny part of her was proud.

Although, she did miss having a friend. She laughed because Ezra was the closest thing to it. But, so far, he was the only relationship of hers that didn't end shattered. There was no chance of ever reconnecting with Jason. Or her short term friend only because of other friends, Melissa. She missed Alison a little bit too. She missed having that little sister role in her life.

She sort of tried to regain one with Spencer instead of Ali. Spencer _was_ very similar to her. They both were competitive souls and fierce personas. Jason was even her brother! She tried with Emily, Hanna, and Aria briefly, but none of it felt right. Especially not Aria.

She wondered what Ezra was doing at the moment and what his "new plan" was. She wanted to go back to the cemetery, but decided to try and stay in his good graces. When he got angry, he really went all out.

XXXX

Spencer and Hanna marched into the mansion with purpose, yet not really knowing what they were looking for. There were only a few other people in the house, not a single one of them noticing Spencer and Hanna.

"Where do we start?" Hanna asked while scanning the small crowd for any familiar faces.

"Well the upstairs is blocked off," Spencer pointed to a stair well with a chain hanging over the bottom steps, "but I don't think it can block out A." They walked over to the steps, but someone stopped them.

"You aren't allowed up those stairs. The party is in the den and the library," a strange old man told them. Hanna just stood there but Spencer's jaw dropped. It was the gardener that her and Toby ran into. The one who stood next to her at Ravenswood cemetery hour. Spencer didn't know what to say when the man looked at her quizzically, most likely puzzled by the way she was staring at him. "The den is over there. The library is down the hall. Enjoy the party."

Hanna walked away, but Spencer stayed. Hanna whispered her name while tugging her arm. Spencer relented, but glanced back at the man who hadn't moved.

"What was that about?"

"He works for Grunwald, I think."

"I thought we trust her. Why do we care about Mrs. Creepy's creepy servants, anyway?"

Spencer thought about that and knew Hanna was sort of right, so she shrugged.

"Look, I doubt A would actually go to upstairs. He probably knew that we'd go up there looking for him because it would be shut down to guests. He's gotta be here somewhere, though. Wanna check the library?" Hanna suggested, slightly thinking back to Ezra. Ezra liked books. She wouldn't be surprised if he was plotting in a library as she spoke.

"Why are you so sure A is a guy now? An hour ago we thought Redcoat, CeCe, was in charge."

"You said yourself that you think all roads lead back to Board Shorts! In case you forgot, Board Shorts got Alison pregnant, so I'm pretty sure that couldn't have been CeCe."

"She wasn't pregnant. She thought she was, but Mona said she wasn't."

Hanna raised her eyebrows, "Now you trust Mona?"

"Maybe! You always did!" Spencer paused, trying to gather her thoughts. "Who do_ you _think it is, Hanna?" she questioned, still sounding frustrated.

There it was again. That Ezra chant that she got earlier started up again. She pursed her lips, wanting to say her idea, but thought better of it. "I don't know!" Hanna waited a few seconds before going down the hall to the library, thinking Spencer would follow her.

Hanna walked down the dark hallway. Every door was closed, so she took a chance and opened the second door on the left. Once she was inside, she looked around. There was nothing but dust and a rickety stairwell in front of her. When she turned around to see if Spencer was behind her, the door slammed and Hanna nearly jumped out of her skin at the loud creak it made.

XXXX

Spencer had turned around for longer than she should have to scan the crowd like Hanna had minutes before. Her gaze fell on the man again, but then was ripped away from him when she felt someone touch her arm. She was surprised to see Caleb next to her.

"Caleb! How'd you know we came to the party?"

"Hanna texted me about it a while ago. Where are the rest of you?"

"We split up. Aria and Emily are still at the cemetery. Me and Hanna," Spencer stopped and realized she was nowhere to be found.

"Where's Hanna?"

"She was here one second ago!"

Caleb and Spencer looked around the room some more, but she was gone.

XXXX

Aria and Emily's eyes were looking for any piece of red cloth or a gas mask. No such luck.

"Do you think CeCe would really come in here? She's probably hiding in a room or outside somewhere. I doubt she'd come to the party," Emily stated.

"Well, we're not just looking for CeCe. We're looking for anyone. If we see someone who could've been connected to Ali, we've gotta find them, Em."

Right when Aria finished, Emily's phone beeped. They both held a breath and looked tense. They both expected a text from A threatening to kill them for stepping into the lair. They let out the breath when Emily told Aria it was from Caleb. The relaxation didn't last long, though, as Emily read the text.

"Hanna's gone. Me and Spence have no clue where she is. Meet us outside the mansion?"

Aria was already heading toward the exit and Emily jumped on her tail. Right when Aria stepped into the cemetery, Emily felt someone yank her back. She gasped and turned around, eyes almost bulging out of her head. It was the Grunwald.

"What are you doing here!?" she hissed.

Emily stuttered, nervous that Mrs. Grunwald would hit her or something. She remembered the paddle in the sorority house, so she wouldn't put it past her. "We're trying to find other people in town who might have had contract with Ali or…"

"Or what? You need to leave,_ now_! All of you."

Emily stared at her, mentally begging her to let her go. She let her arm drop when Grunwald let go. "Don't get_ her_ hurt again. She doesn't need that."

Emily nodded and ran out of her reach. She looked around. "Not Aria, too…" she whispered to herself. She was relieved though when Aria popped up beside her.

"Where were you? What happened? Why didn't you follow me?"

"Grunwald's here. She said we have to leave or Alison will get hurt again."

"Well, we have to find Hanna before we do anything else."

They began to walk toward the mansion when Aria's phone beeped.

Aria let out a groan before reciting it.

"Take Hanna. Leave Ali. Leave now or all of you will be sorry. - A"

XXXX

Ezra watched from the bushes as Aria read the text to Emily before walking towards the hosting house. He stuffed his phone back into his pocket before heading towards the mansion. His path was quicker than the way Aria and Emily were going, so he knew he'd beat them there. He had mapped out the whole party beforehand having a strong feeling that the Liars would end up there.

He headed to a secret entrance to the cellar where Hanna was probably inside by now. He had every intention of getting that diary back. No matter what he had to do, he _would_ get it back.

XXXX

Hanna cautiously walked down the old stairwell that lead to a cellar and wondered just how old the house was. It smelled rotten once she got down to the bottom of the stairs and she held her nose. She remembered how Mr. Fitz read _The Cask of Amontillado_ to the class a while back and instantly became worried that that story would become her reality. A second later she told herself she was silly and moved more into the room.

There was a piano covered in cobwebs and racks of colored liquid in jars. She wished she hadn't left her phone in the car, but she knew that Spencer and the girls would already be trying to find her.

She saw a smaller opening towards the corner and went inside. It was a tunnel to god knows where. She walked past a brick wall, but quickly turned around after seeing words written on it. "HELP ME" was written in big red letters. She thought that it Alison could have written it, but the handwriting didn't look right. And, what would Ali have been doing all the way down there anyway?

She heard something behind her and the footsteps sounded heavy. They didn't sound like the dainty heels the girls or Alison would have been wearing, so she ran down the tunnel, praying that there wouldn't be a wall that led to nowhere at the end.

XXXX

Ezra huffed and puffed because she got away. He picked up the hat she was wearing which must have fallen when she ran off. He threw it at the wall then quickly came up with another plan.

XXXX

CeCe unlocked the navy blue door and stepped inside. She slid the key into her pocket and rubbed up and down on her bare arm. She had to sew on the sleeve as soon as possible. Her wrist was still throbbing where Aria had grabbed it. She took off her freshly ripped red coat and sat down on the couch. She didn't want to just sit in Ezra's apartment but she didn't exactly want to play Desperately Seeking Mona either.

CeCe walked to a small vent after grabbing all the evidence from her bag and stuck it inside. That was another thing she taught Alison; where to hide stuff was both one of their specialties. That's what made it so easy for CeCe. She knew Ali's hidings spots because most of the things, she helped Alison hide.

She got up off her knees and closed up the vent. When she got up she noticed a frame picture of Ezra and Aria she never noticed before placed on his desk. She picked up the picture and looked at it they're huge smiles in the picture. She wondered who had taken it. Part of her wondered if it was a picture from Mona's old lair that he'd grabbed before they cleared out the motel room. She was bored with looking at their faces and dropped it onto a stack of ungraded papers about Shakespeare. She wanted to find Aria's and write a big, fat F on it.

When she came back to town and met up with Ezra, she slightly wanted to rekindle their short lived romance, but that couldn't happen. They had met that summer in Cape May. They dated and had a lot of heavy make out sessions, but it wasn't anything. It didn't have the chance to be anything thanks to Alison.

She shook out the thoughts and grabbed the Rosewood Observer off the coffee table. She looked at the sketch of her guilty face which, frankly, didn't do her justice. She hated newspapers. They always got the facts wrong. She chuckled while reading the journalist's possible motives for a quote "seemingly sane and kind young woman" to kill a cop. Nobody knew her _real_ motive. Nobody but her and Fitz.

**A/N: **Gotta admit, I didn't like this chapter as much as I wanted to, but I've already started working on the next chapter and I actually like it! I think it'll probably be the last part of "Grave New World."

Did any of you catch the ending A scene reference in the last section when CeCe is in Ezra's apartment? Think 4x10... If you catch it, write it down in your review or pm me! I put that in to see if you'd catch it ;)

also, once again, thank you sooooo much for the reviews, follows, favorites, and views on this story! So far, I've only gottenpositivefeedback which makes me feel great! I hope I don't let you down.

**and, VERY IMPORTANT - if any of you have theories regarding Toby's mother, Mona's B-Team involvement, who they buried since Alison is alive, Ezra's A involvement, Alison theories, Wren's involvement, Maggie, really anything that regards what could happen in 4B, please please please send them to me! I have a pretty good idea of where I want to go with each of these things, but if you have any strong theories/opinions/thoughts/ideas/etc. please tell me! I might include it and if I do, I will give you credit for the theories! Especially Wren involvement theories! i know he'll be in one 4B episode and he was hella shady in 4x10, so tell me your theories about the cute but creepy British fellow we all love to hate and hate to love ;) Well... i do anyway lol**

Also if you have thoughts on who Mona's new love interest will be, but i think i know who i'm going with and im pretty sure the writers are going with the same person (which if they are, i will literally cry tears of joy and bounce off the walls in excitement.)

Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Next one will be up sometime between Sunday to Tuesday. Enjoy the rest of your weekends, guys! xx

ps i'm gonna try to finish the vast majority of this fic before the halloween episode because i feel like my whole story will be COMPLETELY off of what they actually do and you'll probably stop reading but anyways...until next time my dear readers!


	5. Who's In the Box?, Part One

**_(A/N:)_****I am so sorry for such a late update! One of my dear friends died from brain cancer recently and I took some time off of writing this story. Never fear, though, this is still very much a thing! I know that the first chapters of this were my predictions for the Halloween episodes, but as i continue, try to forget those chapters and replace it with the epic episode of Grave New World! Not my favorite Halloween episode, but the ALIve reveal was amazing. This takes place about two weeks after Ali revealed herself! I hope it was worth the wait! more coming SUPER soon! kisses, m!**

Who's In the Box?

Part One

"That's great!" she said into the phone, trying to sound enthusiastic, but falling flat. Her voice almost broke when she continued the conversation. "I miss you. I'll see you tomorrow, right?" He replied with a yes and they ended the call with "I love you's" and more "goodbyes."

When Hanna sent Caleb with Miranda, she wasn't expecting him to be gone for over a week. He always explained what type of trouble he'd gotten into over there and he had to stay, and she'd say that she understood, but in reality, she wanted him home with her so they could both be safe and sound. Well, as safe and sound as it could get in Rosewood.

The bell rung and students scattered around her. Hanna, oblivious to all of it, kept walking in the wrong direction while staring down at the picture of Caleb on her phone, which was her home screen, of course. She let out a sigh as she ran straight into someone, stumbling in her knee high boots.

"Hey, you okay there?" A voice asked, holding her shoulders and steadying her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks Mr. Fitz," she answered while the last students in the hallway stepped into classrooms. She bent down and gathered some of the notebooks that fell from her arms.

"Hanna, there's no one around. It's cool if you call me Ezra," he assured.

She simply shrugged before walking away. "Hey, wait," Ezra called.

"Yeah?"

Mr. Fitz chuckled, "You have my class right now. You're going the wrong way." He paused when she stepped back by his side. He tripped on something and kneeled over to grab it. "This yours?" Ezra questioned, holding out two stapled papers titled "Science Notes – Fifth Period."

"Yes! Thank you," she grabbed it and realized the gash on his hand. "What happened there?"

He stuttered before responding with an explanation. "I was making a salad and got a little too close to a knife while cutting a carrot. I am _not_ the best cook. Just ask Aria."

The two reached the door of his classroom. They walked in together, everyone watching them. Aria looked puzzled while the other students rolled their eyes because the teacher came in, dismissing free time.

Hanna took her seat next to Mona's empty one as Ezra went up to the chalkboard. _Thank God I'm ambidextrous_, Ezra thought. He fought the urge to glance over at Spencer to see if she noticed his palm. It was getting better since she sliced him with the garden shears, but still noticeable to someone as nit-picky as Spencer. He had to get more careful, especially now that he lost a team member.

XXXX

The bell rung and everyone leapt from last period. Hanna made a beeline for her locker, dodging the others. She wasn't mad at Emily, Aria, or Spencer, but they kept treating her like glass because Caleb was gone. Yes, she was upset that he was gone, but she's not an infant.

She tossed stuff into her locker and pulled books out at the same time when a familiar voice sent her mind into block out mode.

"Hello Stranger," Mona greeted. The two hadn't spoken since the phone call after Ashley got out on bail. Hanna wondered if Mona knew that she and her inner circle tried to hunt her down.

Hanna nodded, "Mona."

"I thought you might want a ride on my new wheels," Mona told her. "A victory lap in Jenna's mustang. She won't be needing it anymore."

"Kind of creepy, you think?"

"Creepy is as creepy does."

"I'll think about it."

"You're shutting me out again. I can understand the others, but not you. I thought we've moved on, after what I did for you…"

"That's just it, Mona. I don't know if you did do it for me," Hanna stated, walking around the petite girl.

Mona stood alone before glancing back in Hanna's direction. She pursed her lips, not quite knowing what to do. She _did_ do it for Hanna. Who else would that have benefited?

XXXX

"Hanna!" Emily shouted. She watched Hanna stop and march over to her and the others.

"What?"

"Why do you keep dodging us," Spencer pondered.

"I am not dodging you! What do you even need to talk to me about? Have you gotten any new leads?"

"Caleb texted me during Chem. The lair's gone. Everything's cleared out," Spencer informed her.

"Well what did you expect? Everything to be left perfectly? Look, I gotta get home. My mom needs help with dinner."

Spencer's shoulders slumped. "Oh, well, call one of us later, ok?"

"Why?"

"We just need to go over what we should do now that…" Spencer dragged out, hoping Hanna would get who she was referring to. Thankfully, Hanna got it.

"Well, talk later. I have to get home."

XXXX

After Hanna left them in the hallway, they all departed. Aria flounced toward the English classroom hallway. She let herself in to his classroom and pulled down the blinds on his door.

"Hey!" Ezra called from his desk.

"Hey." Aria walked over and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "How was your day?"

"It was ok. When I monitoring the make-up test, I caught this kid cheating."

Aria's body froze at the word _cheating_. She knew that Ezra had meant it as taking test answers, but in her mind, it didn't. She'd been ignoring Jake's calls since the Ravenswood party. She felt bad, but they just weren't compatible. Besides, Jake knew about her and Ezra and how he had a huge chunk of her heart that Jake could never take over. And, were they ever really that exclusive?

But still, Aria felt guilty.

Ezra noticed her body tense up before shaking his head. "You haven't called him back yet, huh? Aria, if we're gonna continue this, Jake needs to know."

"I know… I'm just stressed."

"About Jake?"

"Partially."

There were a few moments of silence until Ezra decided to speak up again, choosing his words very carefully. "Aria, if – if A was back, you'd tell me right?"

Aria tensed up again, "What makes you say that?"

"Aria… why else would you be in a cemetery in Ravenswood? Why else would a car drive through Emily's house? Why else would Mike get framed for smashing a car?" Ezra paused. "Aria, you never told me about A, and we were together for over a year."

"There's been a new A since before all that happened… It started back when Ali's remains were dug up," Aria spilled, not letting Ali's fake death slip. They all decided they would tell no one about Alison being alive. _Only the five of us know for sure, and it stays that way_, Spencer had ordered. It was odd thinking about _the_ _five of us_ again.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Ezra shouted, faking shock. "What, was I untrustworthy?"

"You were kind of busy!" Aria shouted back, referring to Maggie and Malcolm. "Hey, I'm sorry. It was just a lot. I didn't want to drag you into it."

Ezra laughed deviously inside his mind_. I didn't want to drag you into it._ He was the core of "it."

"Look, let me take you somewhere tonight. I'll pick you up at seven?"

Aria cautiously replied with a simple "ok."

XXXX

Spencer sighed as she pushed open the doors of Rosewood High. There was so much she had to do. She had missing work, tests she needed to make up, and averages that had to get higher, all on top of saving her dead-but-not-really best friend. She perked up, however, when she spotted Toby's truck. She hitched up her bag and practically ran over to it.

She slid into the car and didn't give Toby a second to say anything. "You are so lucky you finished high school."

He chuckled and started the car. Her car was still in Ravenswood. Caleb was bringing it back tomorrow. "Wanna stop for coffee?"

"Ah, I'd love to, but I have a ton of work I gotta do."

"Wow. Spencer Hastings actually has so much schoolwork, she just passed up coffee," Toby teased.

Spencer sighed. They hadn't talked that much since her and her friends had their little Ravenswood field trip. She hated keeping secrets from Toby, so it was easier to not see him at all.

"Hey, you wanna go out tonight? See a movie or something?"

Spencer laughed, assuming he was kidding. When he scrunched his eyebrows together, she realized he wasn't. "I can't, Toby. I have, like, seven papers to write. Maybe next week, though."

The rest of the car ride was silent, each of them thinking to themselves. Toby wanted to tell Spencer something, but knew he couldn't. A had turned the fountain back on and let Toby in on more "clues" about Marion, his mother. While Toby thought about the most recent clue, Spencer thought about her most recent revelation- Ali being alive the whole time. Years wasted on trying to find her killer, just to find out that she never died. But, there were mysteries that came with that. She might not have died, but they did find a body in the ground. There was an autopsy, and someone did try to kill Alison. She felt like she and the girls just finished a movie and were now waiting for the sequel to premiere in theaters. Spencer felt like she was stuck in line at the ticket booth.

Spencer's mind stopped racing when the car pulled into her home. She got out of the car and called "I love you" to Toby over her shoulder, but he was already pulling away.

XXXX

As Hanna avoided everyone and Spencer avoided Toby, Emily avoided Paige. She felt awful when, in reality, she hadn't done anything wrong. But, Emily knew herself pretty well, and knew she would do something wrong very soon.

The second she saw living Ali before her in Spencer's yard, all of those locker room and library feelings hit her like a tsunami. A mere twenty-four hours before, she was falling asleep in Paige's loving arms, but in that second, all she wanted to do was hug Ali and kiss those soft sweet lips she remembered oh so well.

She just knew that the second Paige found out Alison was alive, that this would drive a ginormous wedge between them. Emily remembered what Paige told her about her experiences with Ali and how horrible Alison made her feel about herself. Could Emily really love the person who the person who loved her most hated more than anyone? It was too much for Emily to even comprehend.

Romantic feelings aside, she wanted to bring Ali home and make sure she would stay there safely. She wanted her back to give them the answers to question they hadn't even asked, to exterminate A like the rat he was, and to just _be_ there. She forgot how much she missed her. She also wanted her back for her friends and family's sake. Sure, Alison wasn't the best person ever, but when Emily saw Mrs. D break down like that about the divorce and Alison… it was a lot to take in. After Jessica popped into her head, so did about a million questions.

Emily asked herself, _Did Jessica know she was alive? Was Alison the Red Coat sleeping under the house? Was that why Mrs. DiLaurentis didn't care about someone living under the house? If Jessica knew, did Jason? Did CeCe? Did anyone besides her and her three best friends?_

She needed to talk to Spencer, stat.

XXXX

"You're home early," Ashley stated from the kitchen. Hanna didn't reply. Ashley sensed her daughter's weird vibe and narrowed her eyes. "Everything… okay?"

"I'm fine!"

"Alright… I was actually just about to leave, so you have the house to yourself."

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going out to dinner with Ted," Ashley told her nonchalantly, like Hanna should have already known. Those two had been inseparable for the last few weeks.

"Dinner? It's like five o'clock…"

Ashley threw her phone into her Prada bag and headed to the door, "So we'll beat the dinner rush." She stopped in front of the mirror, straightening out her fashionable, yet sophisticated blazer. "Don't wait up."

Hanna rested her cheek on her palm and set her elbow onto the kitchen's island, raising her eyebrows in embarrassment and slight disgust. "Mom, I did _not_ need to think of those things." Before Ashley could snark back, she was closing the front door.

Hanna exhaled and gave up. She reached for her iPhone and speed dialed Mona. _I could go for a joy ride in that car right now._

XXXX

Emily knocked on the door continuously until Spencer's slender frame came into view. Spencer opened the door while wearing an aggravated look on her face.

"God, you're worse than a Jehovah's witness."

Emily shrugged off the comment saying, "Mrs. DiLaurentis knows! She knows that-"

Emily immediately stopped continuing her sentence when she realized Peter Hastings was in the kitchen. He looked up from the coffee pot and straight at his daughter and Emily.

Spencer, noticing the look in her Dad's eyes, intervened. "Let's go up to my room."

Once they were inside Spencer's room, Emily spilled all the questions and theories she had. When she was done, all Spencer did was blink.

"Emily, I doubt that only the four of us know. A knows, CeCe knows, and I have a feeling Melissa and Jenna do, too."

"What about Jessica? You think she knows?"

"Emily, we've seen her break down about Ali dying a handful of times!"

"It could be an act! Mona was playing us for _how_ long?" Emily reminded her.

"Why would Alison just live under her house for two years?"

"Because she missed her home! She told us she wanted to come back!" Emily stopped, but started back up again, more thoughts popping in her head like popcorn. "Remember when you saw Ali in the window? Or when you thought Jason had someone in that house with him? It was probably Ali!"

"He thought he killed Ali! Why would her tell Aria he could've killed her if he knew she was alive?"

"Everyone is messing with us, that's why…where is Jason, anyway? I know that Mrs. D told us he was at his grandma's, but she was probably lying."

Spencer bit her tongue. She found out where he was weeks ago, overhearing her father. Her and Peter had made a deal about it, though, so Spencer kept quiet. "How would I know?"

XXXX

Ezra walked up the steps of Aria's house, thinking about how he hadn't in a very long time. He was hoping tonight would get his mind off of the still missing diary, Ali talking to the liars (he had seen all of that,) and where CeCe could be.

He knocked on the door, figuring that using the key he had to the Montgomery house would have been a red-flag move. He waited for a while, so he decided to knock again. Before he got the chance though, Byron swung open the door. His mouth formed into an "o."

Aria ran down the stairs, grabbed her coat, and stood by Byron, one foot outside the threshold.

"Aria, can I talk to you for a moment?" Byron demanded.

Aria read him like a book and replied to Byron. "Dad, we aren't doing anything. There's a poetry reading at the Brew. We're going to it." Ezra smiled to himself, thinking how great of a liar she was, but then stopped.

"Is this a date? Aria, you know that…"

"No! Of course not! It's just a reading. Nothing special."

"Then why is he picking you up?" Byron interrogated, getting incredibly impatient.

"I'm letting Mike borrow my car. He has some kind of date or something," Aria explained, not completely lying. Mike was going to use her car, "and I don't know anyone else going, so…"

Byron looked between Aria and her despicable teacher before asking, "When will you be back?"

"Umm, ten thirty-ish maybe? Spencer's picking me up after the reading though, for a late dinner so probably later. The reading starts at seven, so can I go or not?"

Byron relented, giving her a kiss on the forehead goodbye. Aria and Ezra walked to his car, resisting the urge for a hello kiss or to hold hands. When both of them got into his Toyota, they pulled out of the driveway fast.

"I hope he doesn't check the Brew's events calendar," Ezra chuckled. Last his records showed, Byron was out of town. Ezra cautiously reached for Aria's hand and said, "I thought you told me your dad was out of town?"

"He was. He had gotten back about an hour ago," Aria replied, completely oblivious to the fact she never told Ezra a thing about Byron being out of town. _These girls are making it too easy_, Ezra thought to himself.

"Where are you really taking me, anyway?" Aria added.

"Oh, I can't tell you! It's a secret."

Aria rolled her eyes and they held hands for the rest of the forty minute drive. Finally, Ezra parked the car outside a forest and kissed Aria's cheek, reminiscing about all the kisses and memories they had had in this car. Aria must have thought about all those memories, too, because she turned her head. They kissed passionately for what felt like an hour, before getting out of the car. Aria leaned on the car and teased Ezra while staring at a pile of leaves, "Wow, what a romantic date."

"You'll like this. I promise."

He grabbed her hand and led her deeper and deeper into the woods before he found the little cabin his family owned. The Fitzgerald's made it for camping getaways for Ezra and Wesley, but as him and his brother got older and his parents grew farther apart, they didn't come back as much. One day, Ezra wondered if it was still there. When he found that it was, it seemed like a golden ticket.

"Is this yours?" Aria wondered, pointing toward the house with her free hand.

"Yep. Come on, you'll like the inside."

Once they had a few more make out sessions on the old couch, Ezra got up and walked over to a tiny icebox. "I don't have any sodas here. Just scotch. Oh, and one lemonade…" Ezra announced. He had been here a lot after the Malcolm fallout, and during that time, he was on an all scotch diet. He didn't know where the lemonade came from, though.

"I'll take a scotch," Aria ordered, feeling daring.

"I've never seen you drink before," Ezra thought out loud. "Like, alcohol drink."

Aria just smiled, while trying to push bad thoughts out. Here she was, in a relationship, cheating on her boyfriend with her teacher, who was now making her a drink despite her being only seventeen.

He came back to the couch and handed her a drink, sitting closer to her then necessary. Aria took a gulp of the whiskey, but quickly spit it out, onto Ezra's shirt. Instead of being upset though, he just laughed a little too hard. "First time?" Ezra choked out.

"Yeah… I didn't think it would be that strong!"

"Beginners shouldn't take that big of gulps," he pointed out, patting his shirt.

"Oh my God, I'm sorry about your shirt."

"It's fine," he declared while standing up and starting a search for napkins, while Aria wiped her chin. _Damn, she was cute,_ he thought. Ezra came up short and decided to be bold. "Well, no napkins," he told her, while tugging off his shirt. Once it was off, he couldn't help but notice Aria's gaze on his abs. She realized Ezra caught her staring and decided to change the subject before it got to the point of no return. Aria felt like one of those cartoons where there was an angel on one of her shoulders, telling her the right thing to do, while there was a devil on her other shoulder, telling her what she _wanted_ to do.

_He's your teacher and you are kind of dating Jake,_ the angel side told her. _You love him. And he's already got his shirt off,_ the devil side said.

"Hey, you wanna start up the fire place?" Aria asked, breaking the silence.

"Sure."

Aria sipped her drink, feeling woozier every second. She felt Ezra's eyes on her and put what was her second glass down. "What?"

"It's just… It's nothing."

"No, tell me!" She half joked, half begged.

"I love you, Aria. I want you to know that. I never stopped after we broke up. I've loved you since I laid my eyes on you. Whatever happens, I'll always love you. You're one of the only people that I've never changed my opinion on. I've met some people who, at first are great, then get worse and worse. You won't ever be categorized with them. I love you, Aria," Ezra proclaimed, letting his guard down. He knew that he said some suspicious things, but Aria was buzzed and they probably flew over her head anyway.

"I love you, too. I don't think I'll ever stop. You've always been there for me even when, even when I wasn't there for you. I should've taken your call a few weeks ago. It's just that I was with…"

"Aria, it's fine. You know, we're both here right now. Can't we just be happy we have that?"

Aria snuggled closer to him and scrunched up her nose, realizing he had quoted something she said ages ago. She sat back up and kissed him like the day she kissed him when he left his teaching job after Ian died.

When they broke away, Aria asked with a wink, "Was that a good answer?"

He put his lips back on hers and tugged at the edge of her tank top. He leaned over her and kissed her cheekbone, holding her small hands in one of his big ones. He didn't even think of Alison or the fact that he would get arrested in a second if a cop burst in. He just went with it. Aria clearly did as well...

As her hands ran through Ezra's hair, Aria thought to herself, _The devil won. Time to go to the point of no return… _


	6. Who's In the Box?, Part Two

**_(A/N:)_**** I've decided to keep some elements from my Grave New World writings like Hanna suspecting Ezra but like 95% of this is following what ACTUALLY happened in 4.13! Enjoy!**

Who's In the Box

Part Two

Mike jumped into the car, shrugging off his father's weird behavior. He started the car, blasted the radio, and drove around the familiar roads. He didn't really know _why _he was going on this date. She didn't have a good history with Aria or his sort of ex-girlfriend, but she was pretty hot.

Mike knew it wouldn't go anywhere and he had a free Friday night, so he thought, _what the hell?_

He made a right on a street and pulled in to a seemingly deserted driveway. He felt his cheeks get hot and a lump form in his throat. Was this all just a prank? He should've known…but why did he even care? It's not like he like liked her…

The lump went away in an instant when Mike saw her come out of the house. He opened the door and met her at the fence. Her hair was in a cute side sweep and she was wearing a lavender dress that looked amazing on her. Way better than Hanna Marin would look in it.

"Hey. You ready?" Mike asked nervously.

"Yep! Where to?" Mona replied.

Mike rubbed the back of his neck and innocently suggested, "The Brew?"

"Oh, I'm always there! How about the Grille? It seems like I haven't been there in ages!"

"Alright. Let's go."

Mona just grinned in response and followed him to what she realized was Aria's car. They were way better siblings then Melissa and Spencer. Mona didn't really know why she was on this date. They just started chatting each other up at some party and Mike asked her out. It was a bold move on his part. Mona's agreement, though, was an odd move.

She always had a sweet spot for him though. He really had a hard time after Ezra screwed up the Montgomery household seven ways from Sunday. He was just about the only family members of her "friends" she hadn't toyed with. And she did like lacrosse players. She was just worried, and excited, to see Aria's reaction if her and Mike ended up as a thing.

XXXX

Ezra woke up to sun streaming through the blinds. Aria was still fast asleep in his arms. She fell asleep almost instantly after their time together. He carefully snuck out from under her and grabbed a blanket from the floor to cover her. Once she didn't wake up, he went over to the kitchen and checked his phone. No new messages.

He glanced over at Aria before making a decision. He needed to check on something but didn't want her to wake up to find him gone. After looking at her, his gaze fell onto an empty glass that she had drunk scotch from all night. He figured she wouldn't wake up due to the amount of sleeping pills he'd slipped in her drink, but he couldn't be too sure.

Finally, he sighed and went over to the corner. There was a couple lawn chair and rug on top of the door, so he had to slide those over. Then he pulled up the latch and crept down. Once he was in the basement, he looked around at the piles of pictures he had of each girl. He wanted to check his laptop, which was saved only for A purposes, to see if there was any new development on Alison or Cece. Nothing. As he shut his laptop, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. One new text.

"Meet me at the Brew. Noon."

It was from a blocked number and he honestly had no clue who it was. It wouldn't be any of the girls. They wouldn't be smart enough to send it from a blocked number. It wouldn't be CeCe because she couldn't just go get coffee; she was wanted for murder. Ezra doubted Alison would just want to chat over coffee with him, so he was left with no suspects.

He decided to leave the place of his new lair and go back on up to the cabin. When he stepped back up from the basement, Aria hadn't even moved. He slid over the rug and chairs and made up his mind about the random Brew meeting. Why not go?

XXXX

Mona stood in line at the Brew, smiling to herself about last night. Before last night, she thought Mike was just some misunderstood Rosewood boy, but he was so, so much more. They talked until closing time at the Grille about everything. Music, movies, and Rosewood High gossip. She couldn't wait until tomorrow. They both didn't have much homework and were going to go catch a movie both of them were sure they'd like. After all, last night they discovered they had the same favorite movie: Shutter Island. Mona was worried about how her confession about her favorite movie would go over, seeing as it focuses on the criminally insane, but he didn't even think anything of it. That made last night even more perfect. Even though she had tortured Aria, he didn't even seem to care or remember. The best part of the night, though, was when he decided to be bold and kiss her on the porch of her house.

As she stepped up to the register, Mona heard the door chime and looked up. There he was. Suit and all. She pulled her focus back on the worker and ordered her coffee. When she realized who was working shifts, she called to Ezra behind her.

"Oh, Mr. Fitz! Let me buy you a coffee!"

A flash of realization took over his face before Ezra nodded and told the kid his order, still looking at Mona. He turned though when he didn't hear anything from the bartender. He realized it was Conner and gave him an evil stare before Conner went to place their orders. Mona walked away from the counter and leaned up against a table.

"So. Get my text?" Mona smirked. Conner called out their orders and Mona picked both of the cups up. "Let's go sit outside. It's a beautiful day today."

Ezra looked at her confused before agreeing. "Let's."

XXXX

"It was… amazing. We fell asleep in each other's arms and the fireplace was lit and he was just so… sweet. It was literally perfect," Aria gloated, telling Hanna about her night with Ezra. Hanna tuned her out for two reasons. One, she didn't want to hear about good relationships when hers was nonexistent half the time and two, because she still had that painful little chant in the back of her mind. _Ezra, Ezra, Ezra._

Finally, Hanna sat straight up and yelled, "Aria! He's your teacher! You really want to deal with all that again?"

"It's worth it. We're gonna make it this time. I know it. Besides, graduation isn't that far. We can deal, Hanna."

"Aria, I really don't think this is smart."

"And why is that?!"

_Because he's A and Board Shorts, _Hanna thought. "I just don't want to see him hurt you. Again."

"He never hurt me. I broke up with him."

"Well, you were upset afterwards! And he chose Maggie over you."

"No, he chose his son!" Aria paused, "Well, who he thought was his son… You're just jealous because Caleb left."

Hanna was astounded. "Aria, that is _not_ why!"

"Whatever. Meet up with you later."

XXXX

"What's this about, Mona?" Ezra questioned.

"I know what you're doing."

"You've always known… "Ezra pointed out, talking to her like she was two.

"No. I know you're still doing it. And I know who you're doing it with."

"What do you mean?"

"CeCe. She's the worst impersonator ever. I found out weeks ago." Mona looked at Ezra, carefully deciding what to say. She was glad she had gone off the radar successfully a couple of weeks ago. She needed to plan and plot. Then Mike came into the picture, so she had to be more cautious. "You know you can't do it alone. You need me. I know how to play those girls, Ezra. All you can do is scare them."

"Fear can be a very good thing."

"It's not enough. You are not capable of doing it alone, and I know CeCe isn't that much of a help anymore. I want back in."

"I'm already working with someone, Mona. I don't need you anymore."

Mona cocked her head. "Who?"

"We don't need to talk about that."

"I know I was wrong letting Toby and Spencer in, I know that, but I can help you."

"I don't need your help. I've done okay on my own."

Mona sat back in her chair and sighed. Sarcastically, she replied, "Yeah, but let's be serious. How many times can you threaten someone by car? Coffee shop boy over there, Emily, Hanna, which I took the blame for by the way, and me."

Ezra eyes squinted when Mona said _me_. "Wait, what are you talking about?"

"In my car… when we went to see the RV. Don't deny it, there was a bruise where I hit you the next day in class. Oh, that's another thing. You're slipping up. That cut, on your hand, I doubt you got that from slicing and dicing vegetables."

"Mona, enough. You messed up. You can't just come back."

"Think about it," Mona suggested, seeing Mike round a corner. "Gotta run."


	7. Who's In the Box?, Part Three

Who's In the Box

Part Three

Toby had snuck back into Radley and stared at the roof. His mom had to have been pushed, but by who? Would he ever find out? He needed answers and he wasn't gonna get them by cuddling with Spencer on her couch. He didn't care about what he told her. He was going to find out what happened to Marion and wasn't going to stop until he got a sure answer.

XXXX

Emily walked through the familiar streets of Rosewood on her way to the Brew. Her shift started in a few minutes. She was a few doors down from the coffee shop when she saw blonde round a corner_. It couldn't be_. A second later, she got a text from a number she never ever thought would pop up in her screen.

One new text from Ali D.

Emily clicked ok and looked at the message. "Follow me."

Emily ran on the sidewalk, dodging pedestrians and passing the Brew. Finally she caught up with a blonde running into the back door of a warehouse. Emily almost laughed and figured it was CeCe messing with her. When Emily stepped inside, she was wrong. It was definitely Ali.

God, it was weird seeing her alive.

Emily didn't know what to do, so she hugged Ali like she had never hugged anyone before. All of those feelings came back to Emily and it was like they never went away.

"Are you here to stay?" Emily whispered.

"Emily, it's not that easy. But, like I said, you're the one I trust."

Emily's despair-filled eyes looked at Alison's mesmerizing blue ones. "Tell me who you're hiding from."

"I thought I knew. But, I was wrong."

"What does that mean? Just stop talking in riddles, please! Is it Board Shorts? CeCe?"

"It's not that easy, Em. You need to watch your backs. All of you. He's getting warmer, Emily. You four need to figure it out, before it gets even worse. I can't help you, Emily. I just can't."

Emily sighed, knowing Ali wouldn't tell her. Then, Emily remembered something huge, and she was determined to get Ali to tell her the truth. "Alison, please give me one answer," Emily demanded. Alison didn't reply so Emily continued. "The body. Whose body is in your grave?"

"Emily…"

"Please tell me. Please," she begged.

"Do you remember Grunwald's house? From Ravenswood?"

"I wasn't ever inside really, but Hanna was. Why? What does that have to do with this?"

"She's a caretaker of the morgue in Ravenswood. We took a body, buried it, and faked an autopsy."

"How did you… how did you pull it off."

"There's always been a lot of crooked people in this town, Emily. Remember that."

Emily dazed off, imagining Alison burying a body. She was pulled back to her thoughts when she realized Alison was boarding an elevator. "Wait! Who's crooked? Another cop? Please tell me who!"

But just like that, the doors of the elevator closed, leaving Emily with nothing but a distorted reflection.

XXXX

Hanna stepped into the foyer of her house and headed into the kitchen, ready to scarf down two cups of chocolate pudding. But, when she reached the kitchen, all thoughts of everything, including pudding, left her mind. She saw Caleb standing in the kitchen, clearly waiting to surprise her. His hands were stuffed in his pocket and he wore a tight smile. Hanna ran to him and kissed him. Caleb tentatively wrapped his arms around her back. They held each other, happy tears stinging Hanna's eyes. It felt like forever since she'd seen him – and her purse which she left in Spencer's car – in forever.

They finally let go and Caleb croaked, "I missed you, Hanna."

"Not more than I missed you. God, it's been awful. I'm so happy you're back! Where are you staying? With Toby? Because I'm sure you could stay here for a while! It could be fun! Like old times!" Hanna grinned.

"Hanna, this is just a visit," Caleb asserted awkwardly. He seemed so… _nervous_.

"But I thought… why you have to go back. I thought Miranda found…" The second Hanna said Miranda, Caleb eyes darted every direction except for in front of him. "What's wrong?"

Caleb stuttered, "Um, Miranda and I,"

Oh God, Hanna thought. He cheated. "Tell me what happened!"

"We were in a car accident. She didn't make it."

Hanna immediately felt like a conclusion-jumping bitch. Why hadn't Caleb told her this before?

"Oh my God. Caleb, I'm so sorry."

The two of them talked some more and Hanna realized just how much she hate this. She hated having to catch up with Caleb. They should be together so they could skip the "how are you?" talks. She didn't like this long distance relationship thing and suddenly understood why Aria was so moody when Ezra went out of town.

"Why can't you just come back, Caleb?"

"There's something weird about the town and I've been sucked into it. I can't just leave it, Hanna."

"But, I love you."

"I want to come back, I do, but –"

"But nothing! I've been miserable here. Ask anyone."

"Hanna, I can't up and leave."

"You up and left Rosewood!" A silence fell over the room and

Caleb and Hanna just stared at each other. "Caleb, I can't do the long distance relationship thing."

"What are you saying?"

Hanna chewed on her lip, "I think we need to, we need to just take a little break for a while."

Caleb nodded slowly, thinking of where this "little break" could go. Hanna seemed to sense his discretion and spoke up. "Just until you get back from Ravenswood. I can't just take the phone calls. That's not enough for me." Tears were falling freely now.

"Hanna, I love you."

Now it was Hanna's turn to nod. "I'll walk you out."

When they reached the sidewalk, they were unsure of whether to kiss or to even touch each other. Both of them just stood still, feeling beat.

"Hey, I think your purse is in Spencer's car. The yellow one?"

"My purse?" Hanna pondered. Then it hit her. The diary! "Oh! Yeah, yeah that's mine."

Caleb breathed out and said, "Bye, Hanna."

"Bye, Caleb."

She watched him take off down the sidewalk to the bus station. It wasn't far, but she should've offered him a ride. She felt teardrops flow over her eyelashes as his figure became smaller and smaller. She wiped away the sprinkles of water on her cheek though and headed to Spencer's car. _The diary_. She had to read the diary. It could be A's or Ali's.

She pulled out her phone and called Spencer.

"Hey Spence, your car just got back."

"Oh, great. I'll come get it in a while."

Hanna was about to bring up the diary, but decided against it. "Okay. See you then."

She stepped to Spencer's car, opened the passenger seat, and grabbed her bag. She couldn't wait, so she pulled out the diary right there on the street and sighed with relief to find it was still there and A hadn't gotten it. Suddenly, she thrust it back to her bag.

_A is watching our streets. _

Hanna glanced up at roof tops and street lights simply wondering how. Eager to read the journal, she ran back inside her house and locked the door.

XXXX

Aria was nothing but smiles and giggles while sitting on the couch watching film noir. She chewed on a fingernail and grinned, thinking of Ezra. _Bad habits die hard _she thought, o_r they never die at all. _She knew she shouldn't be doing this to Jake, but she loved Ezra and that was that. She also knew that Ezra was her teacher, but if they had gotten away with it successfully last year, couldn't the successfully do it this year? She was pulled out of her thoughts though by someone she did not want to hear at that second.

"When did you get home last night?" Byron asked, as if he was reading her thoughts.

"I stayed at Spencer's with Hanna. We were trying to cheer Hanna up, so I stayed."

"How was the reading?"

"Intense," Aria responded, remembering Ezra's words. "Dad, I know that Ezra and I can't happen and it's not."

"It better stay that way," he murmured, walking away.

The doorbell rang and Byron looked at Aria from the top of the stairs, "Will you get that?"

Aria replied by standing up and walking to the door. She opened it and her mouth dropped to the wooden floor. What was_ she_ doing here?


	8. Who's In the Box?, Part Four

Who's In the Box?  
Part Four

Hanna cringed at Alison's brutal journal entries. She was awful to the girls that summer, taunting each one with their darkest secrets, but it was nothing compared to her writings. Pages on pages talking about how Spencer was "sooooo" desperate for Ian, how Emily's crush on her was gross considering the two changed next to each other in gym, and how Aria was such a cowardly poser. Hanna was about nine pages in and so far it was only about the girls. After she read something about her own cheese based product binges, something stuck out like a sore thumb. Hanna read her own name next to Mike Montgomery's over and over. Alison…knew?

_Hanna said she couldn't hang out tonight. Bummer. I was curious as to why though, so I biked past her house. Nothing seemed odd until I heard voices over by her fence. I recognized Hefty's instantly, but the other took some time to place. It was Aria's little brother! So of course, I listened in. I think the two like each other! Hanna and Mike sitting in a tree! I hope Hanna doesn't break the branch!_

Her and Mike was a huge secret of hers. She didn't want the others to know, especially Aria, about them. She had almost forgotten, to be honest. She hadn't seen Mike in a while and she was busy with other stuff. Reading Alison's passages though, made her reminisce.

Mike was her first kiss. She was so happy to find a boy who actually liked her even though she had to shop at Curvy Girl. She had gone to the Montgomery's house in search of Aria, but instead got Mike. Byron and Ella were out and Aria was still at a painting class. He said she could wait until Aria got back, so Hanna did. They sat together on the couch and at first it was awkward. Then the two got to talking about random stuff like the smell of Mrs. Miller's classroom and that store in the back of the mall that looked like it could go out of business any second. They laughed at each other's lame jokes and ate chips for a full hour. Aria had finally called the house, saying she was hanging out with a few of her co-painters after class and she'd be home later. Hanna announced she should go, but Mike kissed her straight on the lips before she could get off the couch. Hanna was so startled that she leapt from her cushion and power walked all the way home. As the days went on though, they secretly saw each other. All the way up until Mona came around that summer. The second Hanna got "cool" she dropped Mike. She figured that's why he was always acting weird when she was at the Montgomery's. She was surprised an A never teased her about it.

She pulled herself back into the present and continued on in the diary. But, after the pages about Mike, the pages were empty. Hanna flipped and flipped for about twenty pages before the writing resumed. Words jumped out and practically hit Hanna in the face. Could her prediction be… right?

She figured that this was the high Spencer felt when she made a revelation in this corrupt mystery.

XXXX

Spencer almost cried at the amount of homework she had. She had overdue make up work in literally every subject. She had to do all of that work, pick up her car from Hanna's, check on Toby, and call Emily due to the absurd amount of alerts Emily had left Spencer. Spencer just wasn't in the mood to play Velma from Scooby Doo. In fact, right now she felt like playing Shaggy. Carefree and careless Shaggy.

Spencer was also watching her chances of being valedictorian slowly plummet to the ground. Andrew Campbell was ahead of her and some girl she'd never noticed before named Brenda was zooming past Spencer's GPA.

She felt like her brain turned into mush ever since she found out Alison's alive. Sure, she'd thought about it, but it was crazy thought. She just… it was too much to wrap her mind around. Who did they bury if it wasn't Alison? And did Alison just watch Ian and Garrett almost get life imprisonment for killing her while eating popcorn?

And who the hell was she hiding from? Where was she hiding? They felt like they could end this whole thing a couple of weeks ago, but now it feels like they're just playing that children's game "Red Light Green Light" where when you mess up, you have to go all the way back to the starting point. Spencer definitely did not want to do that.

XXXX

Emily paced and paced around her room. Crooked people? That could be anyone in this town! She quickly pulled out some notebook paper and sat at her desk, working on a theory. She remembered Spencer saying Wilden had forged Toby's mom's reports. Could he have faked Ali's? And a doctor had to fit in somewhere. Wren? She sighed.

Almost everyone they knew were crooked. One way or another.

Maybe that's why Wilden was so persistent on the case; so he could pin it on someone. Maybe that's why Wren popped up unexpectedly. Maybe Wren was A and was Boardshorts. He did wear a lot of suits. And pictures of yourself is a good fake-out.

Emily scooted her chair out, grabbed up her papers, and ran back down stairs, deciding to tell the others her theory. She had an odd, but good, feeling. She felt like she might actually be right. If she was, they could get rid of A and bring Ali home. That was something she'd dreamed about for two years.

But, she felt bad. Emily fell head over heels for Ali the second she saw her in that ware house and in Spencer's yard. Where did that leave Paige? Emily loved Paige, but they were rocky right now, and Paige would leave in September. Maybe, if Ali accepted it, Emily's first love had hope.

XXXX

"What are you doing here?" Aria interrogated, eyes looking everywhere. They hadn't heard almost anything from Mona in a while and that always made Aria very nervous.

"Oh, you're home…"

Aria laughed, kind of confused, "What, you looking for my brother or something?" At that very second, Mike scuttled down stairs and stood next to Aria.

"Ready?" Mike interjected.

Mona nodded and Aria's head looked back and forth as if she was watching a tennis match. She felt like she was a butt of some weird joke between Mike and Mona. "Ready for what?"

"Aria, me and Mona are going out."

"Going out? Like… going out."

Mona stifled a laugh and just smirked. This was such a great reaction.

"Can I borrow your car?" Mike asked. No way was Mona getting in her car, Aria thought, but Mona stopped him.

"Oh, no need. I brought my car," Mona hooked her thumb behind her and Aria felt even more gobsmacked.

"What are you doing with Jenna's car?"

"Oh, I got it from Shana. It's not like Jenna can use it…"

"Nice," Mike approved. "Well, let's go." Mike pushed past Aria and Aria was just confused. Mike pulled the door shut and looked at her dad, who had come back downstairs. He didn't look puzzled. He didn't look at the scene at all. Had Mike and Mona been going out for a while and Aria didn't catch on? If they were, why were they going out?


	9. Who's In the Box?, Part Five

Who's In the Box

Part Five

_So, I met this guy today. He's absolutely amazing. I've seen him around a little. He goes to Hollis and I've seen him walk around campus when I go talk to Mr. Montgomery or go there with Aria. Today was the first time we talked, though. I was just sitting on a bench in Wright's Park reading and he came up to me! We flirted right away and before he left, we had a hot make out session! _

_He's an older boy, so I didn't say I was fourteen (duh) and I said I just turned eighteen. Thank God he believed me! We talked about books, which usually is a turn off, but with this guy it's different. He talked about how he loves books and is majoring in English. We made plans to go see a movie later this week! I can't wait to tell you all about it!_

Hanna pulled back from the diary, taking it in. Hollis. Older boy. Books. Lied about being eighteen. _English major_. This guy was Board Shorts and this also had to be… must be… Ezra.

Hanna closed her agape mouth when she heard the doorbell ring. She decided to put the book in a safe place and tell the girls when she had more evidence. She hid it in the same place where she held the footage of her mom hitting Wilden. She closed up the make-up box and ran down stairs.

"Spencer, hi!"

"What took you so long?"

"Oh, I was getting changed."

"Where's Caleb? I figured you wouldn't let him out of your sight once he got back," Spencer chuckled.

Hanna's face dropped and she immediately looked to the ground.

"What happened, Han?"

"We, um, we're taking a break."

"Oh…"

The doorbell rang again, and this time Emily and Aria strode in.

"It's Wren!" Emily shouted. At the same exact time, Aria had shouted "It's Mona!"

Hanna and Spencer looked at each other. This would be a long night.

XXXX

The girls stood around Hanna's kitchen eating and discussing thoughts. Each girl tried to talk over each other as well as the music Hanna was playing. They all agreed music was a good idea, though, due to A probably being able to hear them without it.

"What do you mean it's Mona?" Hanna questioned.

"I'm not saying it's just Mona, but I think she's still working for someone," Aria explained.

Spencer jumped in. "What makes you say that?"

"She's dating Mike all of a sudden. Why else would she do that?"

"Mike's a catch," Hanna mumbled absentmindedly.

Aria looked at her questioningly.

"What? He's cute, he's a lacrosse player, and he's…"

"Stop, please," Aria begged.

Hanna rolled her eyes, happy Aria didn't know of her and Mike if that was her attitude. "My point is, she might like him. She does have a thing for LAX boys."

"Okay, what makes you think it's Wren?" Spencer asked Emily, changing the subject. No way was it Mona _again._

Emily stuttered, "I met up with Ali."

All the girls spoke a chorus of question words.

"I saw her and I followed her," Emily clarified, "and she told me who we buried. Grunwald stole a body from a morgue and they had people cover it up."

"People? What people?"

"I don't know! Ali said how there was always crooked people in Rosewood."

"So… Wren?" Spencer fussed.

"Wren's a doctor. He could cover it up. I think Wilden covered it up, too. He always tried to make it a closed case and he forged Toby's mom's report."

"But, if Wren's A…" Hanna added, slightly perplexed by Emily's thoughts.

"A's been pushing us to figure out Ali's murder since day one! Wren probably did that because he was working with Wilden and they wanted it to be a closed case. One of them _probably_ pushed Ian to have Ian's confession!"

"Whoa, slow down. You do think Board Shorts is Wren?" Aria inquired.

"Yes," Emily answered straight forward.

"But, Alison thought Boardshorts would kill her."

"Well then, Wren was just covering his crime."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Spencer leaped in. "There is no way Wren killed Alison. That makes no sense. There's no link between the two. And Wren wasn't even in Rosewood! Or a doctor four years ago!"

"Wait… Spencer! Grunwald said one of us had been touched by the one Ali fears most! Wren! Wren's certainly touch you!" Aria stated, feeling an epiphany.

"Wait, what?" Hanna asked. There went that chant again. Ezra had most definitely touched Aria.

Aria was happy about her thoughts, "Ms. Grunwald told the three of us that in Ravenswood. Paige is cleared and I doubt it's Toby. It's Wren."

"Well, what about Ezra?" Hanna let slip.

Emily's eyebrows crinkled, Aria looked hurt and astounded, and Spencer cocked her head.

Aria yelled, "What about Ezra?"

"N-nothing. I'm just saying you brought up Toby and Paige..."

"You really think it's Ezra?" Aria cried, clearly offended by her best friend's accusations.

"Aria, it's not Ezra, okay? It's Wren. It has to be," Emily interrupted.

Aria paid no attention and just stared at Hanna. Had she really pointed a finger at Ezra? That made zero sense. "That's why you were mad earlier! You think it's Ezra."

"Forget I said anything! Maybe it's Jason then! He's touched you too! Or Noel! Or Jake! Or your dad!"

"Wow, just accuse every guy in my life then," Aria shrugged. "And thanks for pulling all of our x-ed out suspects back into the mix."

"Stop it," Spencer ordered the two girls. "We are not going to figure this out in one night. If you guys think that, maybe we all need to reflect on the past."

All the girls phone beeped and they exchanged tense glances.

"Go to me. –D"

"D? What, are we gonna go through a whole alphabet of stalkers?" Hanna groaned.

"Darren?" Aria suggested.

"He's dead!" Emily grumbled.

"CeCe?" Hanna suggested.

"That's a C, Han," Spencer argued. "Wait, it's Alison! Ali D? She can't exactly sign it with an A."

Aria wondered, "How do we go to her?"

"Her grave," Hanna whispered.

XXXX

The girls jumped out of Spencer's car and ran into the crypt. Spencer shook her head as she passed Marion's defaced grave. They all stood in front of Alison's memorial, staring at the creepy quote.

"Well," Hanna sighed, "what now? Is Ali gonna pop out or something?"

"Wait, look," Spencer told them as she bent down. There was a slip of paper folded into a tiny square. They unfolded it.

"Please figure it out soon. KIT."

"KIT?" Hanna questioned.

"That's what she signed in yearbooks," Emily explained, still holding part of the paper. "Keep in touch."

"So, what? Ali's going to just keep coming to us?" said Hanna.

Emily exhaled slowly, "I guess so."

XXXX

All the girls parted ways after the note-finding. Hanna climbed the stairs and went straight to her room. She was tired and wanted to read the rest of the diary. She opened up the make-up box and thanked God it was still there.

She flipped to the page about Ali meeting Ezra - er, an older boy – and re read her words. When she finished, she turned the page to more blank ones. Finally, she came back to a sketch of the words "CAPE MAY" in bubble letters and doodles around them.

_Dear Diary,_

_ I can't believe it! Me and CeCe got to Cape May yesterday and we were just sitting on the beach when Book Boy came up to me! Apparently he knows CeCe's boyfriend and they're out here fishing together! Oh, this weekend is going to be good. _

_ We talked some more and he's so sweet. He talked about how he was always on and off with his girlfriend and right now, they were off. Well, after this weekend, I'll see to it that they're permanently off. God, I could stare in his blue eyes for days. He's shy at first, but once I get him talking… he's perfect. Way hotter than Noel Kahn. Even hotter than Ian! The other night we hooked up in the Drake's beach house! It was so steamy! After, we sat on the porch just smiling and drinking beer. Jason was having a party over in my beach house, but I'd rather sit with my Beach Hottie. He really got me to open up. I'm really falling for this guy._

Hanna gulped. Wilden and Wren both had brown eyes. Emily was completely wrong. It had to be Ezra. She flipped the page and there was nothing about Beach Hottie – just little drabbles about partying with CeCe. In fact, there wasn't anything after that. Blank page after blank page. She flipped through the rest of the book and gave up. On the fourth to last page, there was teeny tiny little heart in the bottom left corner. Hanna had to squint to see it because it was so small and the pencil was light. When Hanna realized what was written inside the heart, she gasped.

_A + E_

**_(A/N): _****This is the last installment of 4x14! i hope you enjoyed it! 4x15 parts will be up later this week! kisses, M!**


End file.
